Very true. There was quite alot of skeptism regarding the outcome of that 2nd Battle of the Sexes. I have watched it several times and it just does not look like Riggs was hitting the ball. He was hitting floaters for BJK to volley away.
I agree. The match was really before my time, but when I got to watch it, having played and coached at a pretty high level, it took about a 20 seconds before, I thought, WTH is this? It's....in the intent...of the shots, the types of shots, the subtlies of the strokes and the points. Riggs was definitely working the match. When you consider what he did to Court, it makes even less sense, if you believe he was really trying to win.
I recall watching Seles and Davenport watch the match for the first time, at one point, it was very subtle, so it wasn't edited out Seles blurted out "OOH, he gave it to her!" then she was immediatly embarrassed and looked at Davenport and they both started giggling, over her actually saying it. Now, that could be taken to mean many things, but I think Seles and Davenport could both see it to.
I am pretty sure, that Riggs was planning to lose, then get the final win/payout at the rematch. He was said to have pushed for this hard over the years, but King would have none of it, she was working her "win" for her agenda.
I also remember on Riggs deathbed, he whispered to King "we did it, didn't we". I tend to think this was also acknowledgement of the impact of the match, by that point, Riggs, had come to realize that he was not going to get his rematch but was happy that his friend |BJK had been able to get so much out of it.